Democrats Beat Republicans in Yet Another Poll 
Given the recent polling data, Republicans should stop speciously pointing fingers and start asking: 1) why do most Americans view us negatively, and 2) what can we actually do to change that?
Last week's Gallup poll found that more American's trusted Democrats over Republicans to do a better overall job and to handle national security and prosperity. The new Washington Post/ABC poll results contain similarly bad news for Republicans.
Given the percentages below, it appears that Americans do distinguish between Democrats and Republicans in federal office:
Congress's Approval Rating 29%
Approve of Rs in Congress 29%
Approve of Ds in Congress 38%
Blame Ds for Congress's inaction 25%
Blame Ds & Rs for Congress's inaction 20%
Blame President & Rs for Congress' inaction 51%
Bush's Approval Rating 33%
(poll results, questions 4 & 1)
Below is the breakdown of people who responded favorably to one party when asked which party's politicians would do a better job on the following issues:
Democrats Republicans
Healthcare 56% 26%
Iraq War 49% 34%
Terrorism 41% 40%
Economy 51% 33%
Budget Deficit 52% 29%
(poll results, question 8)
About whether Congress should approve President Bush's request for another $190 billion in war funding for the coming year, reactions were as follows:
Give full funding 27%
Reduce the amount 67%
Sharply reduce the amount 43%
Give no funding at all 3%
(See poll results, question 15)
Given that the Iraq war weighs heavily on voters' minds, Republican presidential candidates also got bad news. When survey participants were asked whether they felt a Republican or Democratic president would do better at handling Iraq, 51% favored a Democrat and 31% favored a Republican (question 16).
About increasing funding for the State Children's Healthcare Program (SCHIPS) by $35 billion -- which the president and a few Republicans oppose -- 72% want the increase and 25% don't (question 9). On this issue, according to WaPo's article, increased SCHIPS funding has strong bipartisan support from 61% of Republicans, 69% of Independents, and 81% of Democrats. Finally, something they agree on.
If Republican politicians would resist the urge to spin the data and instead cooperate with Democrats to solve national problems, they might improve their chances for re-election in 2008.
KEYWORDS: polls, Gallup, Washington Post, ABC, poll, results, Republicans, Democrats, better, approval ratings, Iraq war, healthcare, health care, economy, budget deficit, federal budget, schips, President George Bush, blame, filibusters, inaction, lack of accomplishments, stop, spinning, spin
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